Howard stood in the doorway, his few wisps of white hair askew. He blinked at the crowd through his glasses and scowled at Millie.
This had the potential to go on for hours, or at least until Millie got tired. I decided to rescue Tom.
“Hi, Mrs. Fessler.” I tapped Millie on the shoulder.
She swung around, finger at the ready. Her frown broke into a huge grin when she saw me.
“Well, Clytemnestra. How are you?” She clutched my hand in hers.
“I’m fine. What seems to be the trouble here?”
“It’s Howard, sleeping on the job again. He never used to do that when you were here with us. I hear you’re a policeman now.”
“I—yes, I am.”
“What do you call yourself now? Cletus? Clover?”
“Clyde, Mrs. Fessler. It’s always been Clyde.” I smiled down at her. She didn’t top five feet, even with her chunky orthopedic shoes.
“That was my first husband’s name. He was a mechanic. Nice man, but he had no stamina, if you know what I mean.” She nudged me with her bony elbow.
“You’ve mentioned him before.” I didn’t want to wander memory lane with Millie.
“Is this your new boyfriend?” She hooked a thumb in Tom’s direction.
Red blotches rose to his cheeks. I was momentarily speechless.
“You always had a thing for policemen,” she said.
“No! We’re . . . friends. Mrs. Fessler, maybe you and Howard could go back inside and work this out.”
She looked up at Howard, who was still standing in the door. He smiled at her as if she was the most beautiful woman on the planet.
“Oh, fine. I’ll give him one more chance.” She waved her hand at the crowd to get them to move out of her way.
She went inside with Howard, and most of the bystanders followed them. I’d often wondered if she staged these little one-act plays when business got slow.
“I need to talk to you,” I said when Tom and I were alone.
“Yeah, I need to talk to you, too.” He smoothed his uniform and brushed off his hat.
We scanned the street, looking for a place to meet where we wouldn’t be seen by Mac or by anyone who might tell Mac. Then I remembered the Memorial Garden.
“Meet me in the garden in three minutes,” I said, and walked away without looking back.
The garden took up a corner lot right in the middle of the commercial section of town. The restaurant that had stood there for half a century burned one September evening twenty years earlier, and the owner’s widow had decided to plant a garden rather than rebuild. She took the insurance money off to Chicago and returned once a year to visit the site.
I used to go there every day in the summer, wandering the pathways while eating my ice cream or talking to Diana or Alex about some teenage crisis. The gates were closed at night, and only the bravest of the teenage crowd hopped the fence to enter. It was said to be haunted by the man who had died in the fire.
I entered through the gate and breathed in the scent of roses, lavender, and lilacs. A small bench sat at the back, hidden from street view.
I didn’t have to wait long before I saw Tom come through the gate and look quickly around. I stood on the bench and waved, and he made his way over to me.
“Thanks for helping out with Millie back there,” Tom said.
“No problem. We go way back.”
“I have some interesting news.” He sat next to me on the bench and glanced around to be sure we couldn’t be seen. “Gary is out of jail.”
I told him about seeing Gary and Tish fighting at the Reading Room.
“This is not good.” Tom shook his head.
“How did Gary get out? Mac said he had an alibi?”
Tom nodded.
“He didn’t want to tell us at first, which is why he got his daughter to lie for him. He was at an illegal poker game in Grand Rapids. I had heard rumors when he and Sara divorced, but he confirmed them today. He’s in debt to several bookies and one very bad loan shark. He was at the poker game trying to ‘earn’ enough to pay the debt.”
“Wow. That must be why he was anxious to sell his land. Sara wouldn’t sell her share, and that put him in a bind.”
“I suppose.” Tom shrugged. “All I know is the lawyer managed to find a couple of the guys who were there, and they alibied Gary after we said we wouldn’t press charges about the poker game.”
“Mac must be looking at other suspects.” I thought about how many times I would make Mac admit he was wrong.
Tom shook his head. “Mac still thinks Gary did it. He says he has an even better motive now that we know he needed the money from the land deal. Plus he doesn’t trust the guys who gave the alibi.”
Maybe the simplest answer was the best. Gary could have gotten desperate for the money and fought with Sara. That solution didn’t feel right, but I was trying to stay out of this. Tom wanted me involved, Mom and Vi wanted me involved, and I just wanted it to be over so I could get on with my summer. After last night, the summer was looking more interesting.
“Listen, Tom. I think Tish knows something. She’s been acting really strange since Sara died.”